Page 6 of Spade
“Spade uses that excuse when he wants out of a situation—usually involving a woman. If you haven’t noticed, he is a nice guy, but he gets nervous around women. Only a few of his close friends know about it, but when he finds a woman attractive, hegoes into this total spaz mode and gets diarrhea of the mouth.” Well, that wasn’t a picture that she’d be able to get out of her mind anytime soon.
“Yeah, thanks for that mental image. I feel like I need to go home and scrub my brain with soap now,” Cynthia teased.
Charlie giggled, “Yeah, my husband sure has a way with words, doesn’t he?”
“Hey, I’m just calling it the way I see it. You make Spade nervous and that means he likes you, Cynthia. Can you blame the guy for wanting to run out of here after you told him that you have a boyfriend?” She couldn’t.
“I didn’t mean to hurt him, but you’re right, I do make him nervous. He told me so himself. And if that means that he likes me, then it’s good that I told him about my boyfriend,” she insisted.
“A boyfriend that doesn’t exist,” Charlie reminded.
“How are you going to explain the fact that you’re never seen with your boyfriend?” Ink asked. “How many excuses can you come up with?”
“As many as necessary for the next six months,” she admitted.
“And then what?” Ink asked. “You’ll magically break up with your pretend boyfriend and go out with Spade? What if he finds out that you were lying to him this whole time?” he asked.
She covered her head with her hands and moaned. “I don’t have the answers to all of your questions,” she groaned. “I’m flying by the seat of my pants here and that’s as good as I can do right now.”
“Go easy on her, Ink,” Charlie insisted. “Sorry about him. How about if we have a few drinks and forget about the whole pretend boyfriend thing? I’m sure that you’ll figure out what to do about Spade when the time is right.” She could always count on Charlie to clear the air when things got a bit heated betweenher and Ink. She wasn’t lying when she told Spade that Ink was like her brother. They fought like brother and sister too, but Charlie always knew when to step in to help them both cool down.
“I’m going to check in with a few of the guys,” Ink said. He was acting like a sore loser, and that always made him a little grumpy. “You two enjoy your drinks.” He stood and walked down to the end of the bar where Mace was talking to the Blaine brothers.
“Don’t mind him,” Charlie said, “he just doesn’t want to see his friend hurt.”
“I don’t know if you mean me or Spade,” Cynthia said. “We’re both Ink’s friends, right?”
“You know that he loves you like a sister, Cynthia,” Charlie said. “But you have to understand that he considers Spade his brother. If things go south with you lying to him, Ink might be caught in the middle, and that would suck for him.” She really hadn’t thought about how her lie might hurt Ink. Hell, she could see the hurt and confusion in Spade’s eyes and that was nearly her undoing.
“I didn’t think of it that way,” Cynthia said. “I’ll be careful not to mix Ink up in the middle of my lie—promise.”
“Thanks for that,” Charlie said. Cynthia wasn’t sure what she had got herself into with her stupid idea of inventing a boyfriend. She was trying to save her own heart, not hurt anyone else in the process. One thing was for sure, if things got much more complicated, she might just have to come clean with Spade and let the chips fall where they may.
Cynthia had thrown herself back into her work, showing up early and taking a few walk-ins every day. She knew that she was avoiding possibly running into Spade, but in a town as small as theirs, running into him was always a possibility.
Every day, she’d check Ink’s schedule to see if Spade had made an appointment to finally finish his tat. Cynthia wasn’t sure if she’d stick around to see the guy or run out of the shop making up excuses about having to be somewhere. That’s what Spade had done to her at the bar a few nights ago.
She hadn’t gone back to the Road Reapers since that night either. If she had to stop going to the bar altogether, she would. It would suck not seeing her friends and unwinding at her favorite spot in town, but she’d live. On the other hand, running into Spade again might put her heart in danger, and it had nothing to do with a health issue. Every time she saw the guy, her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. She even got those damn butterflies in her tummy—something that hadn’t happened to her since high school.
Charlie walked into the shop holding Bethany and Cynthia quickly grabbed the baby. They came in every day to visit Ink and honestly, it was her favorite part of each workday. She got her baby fix and when Bethany got too fussy, she’d hand her back to her mom.
“Is he in the back?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah, don’t tell him that I told you, but he’s been in a mood all day,” Cynthia said.
“I know, we kind of had a fight, and I’m here to make up with him,” Charlie said, bobbing her eyebrows at her.
Cynthia could feel herself making a face at her friend. “Well, then, Bethany and I will just stay out here then.”
“Thank you,” Charlie said. She started for Ink’s office and quickly turned around. “I forgot to tell you that the RoadReapers are having a live band tonight. You should come with me and Ink,” Charlie insisted.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Cynthia said. “I’ve been trying to steer clear of that place so that I don’t cause any trouble for Ink.”
“I got a babysitter and everything,” Charlie said. “Plus, how much trouble can you cause in one night?” she asked.
“You’d be surprised by my answer, I’m sure. How about if I think about it, and will let you know?” Cynthia asked.
“That’s what I say to Ink when I’m planning to not do something that he wants to do. Promise me that you’ll actually think about it. You need a night out and a live band should be fun.” Charlie was right, she needed a night out and she loved a live band, but Ink was clear that he didn’t want to be trapped in the middle of her mess with Spade and if she saw him again, she was sure that it would get messy.
